Cash For Trash

What if “waste” were a thing of the past? Companies are finding clever ways to convert their waste streams into resources.

Upcycling waste to new products. Recycling garbage so it doesn’t end up in landfills. Our panel will explore opportunities and challenges of getting cash for trash and tell us how doing good for the environment is also good business. It is a dirty tale, with a clean outcome.

Date Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Time

•  5:30-6:00pm Doors Open and Early Networking
•  6:00 – 7:30pm Program
•  7:30 – 9:00pm Reception and Networking

Location PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP 300 Madison Avenue, PwC Auditorium SW Corner of 42nd Street

Cost $25 for CBSACNY Members, MCC Members, NYBSC Members & Students and for the Columbia Venture Community;  $40 for non-members; $60 at the door. Includes networking reception with drinks and hors d’oeuvres

We were inspired by Apple Inc. when, as part of their effort for greater transparency, they listed their “Supplier Responsibility Report”.  This report was released as a result of recent negative media regarding their main supplier’s worker conditions (you can read it here).  The report is a a fascinating and insightful look into the company’s global culture.  It spans such diverse topics as COC’s, Auditing, Education and Development and, most interestingly, Supplier Responsibility Reports.  We applaud Apple for providing these reports and actually putting themselves “out there”.  While Apple is by no means a perfect company, the publishing of these documents demonstrates that they are serious about openness and corporate responsibility.

Transparency at 4^th Bin

When it comes to openness and corporate responsibility, we feel very much the same way as Apple.  Our customers SHOULD KNOW who 4th Bin contracts and the vendors who ultimately handle their e-waste are after it leaves their home or office.  Granted, 4th Bin isn’t even in the same stratosphere of economic activity as Apple (other than Google, Facebook and the large banks, who is?).  But Apple is setting a good example and, obviously, we share the same belief that transparency is necessary.

Transparency in the E-waste Industry

We can say with full confidence that our competitors will not be so transparent.  We call it “selective transparency”, at the very least.   If you ask most companies  who collect e-waste in NYC (whether it is direct door-to-door, mail back, retail drop-off point or e-waste event) to fully disclose their downstream (industry-speak for where their stuff really goes…), we guarantee they will not do so.  Or disclose what their main business really is, they will not.  For example many companies now pose as legitimate e-waste collectors and recyclers, but are actually a regional scrap company.  Sure…you’ll get some answers.  And some of those answers will sound great.  But it may not be the complete answer.  And what they’re leaving out is the concerning part .

Our List

So, with that, we would like to list all 4th Bin vendors and partners (we have no suppliers per se) and their locations and industry.

Apple Inc.- Technology
Cupertino, CA
Avenue X Group- IT Consulting
New York, NY
AW Systems- IT Consulting
New York, NY
Broadway Green Alliance- Facilities Consultants
New York, NY
Caster Communications- Public Relations
Wakefield, RI
Call 2 Recycle- Battery Recycling
Atlanta, GA
CC Rentals-Trucking
New York, NY, NJ
Control Group Inc.- IT Management, Application Development
New York, NY
Crexendo Inc.- SEO Consulting
Tempe, AZ
Cumulus Global- Cloud Computing, Google Apps Consultants
Westborough, MA
Cyber City Inc.- IT Consulting
New York, NY
City Iron- Metal Management
New York, NY
ExchangeMyPhone- Mobile Phone Recycling
Brooklyn, NY
Facebook Inc.- Software
Palo Alto, CA
Google Inc.- Technology
Mountain View, CA
Help With a Smile- IT Consulting
New York, NY
Ivan Experts- Apple Consultants
New York, NY
Manhattan Mini Storage-Storage
New York, NY
Marathon-, IT Consulting
Brooklyn, NY
Macktez- IT Consulting
New York, NY
Microsoft Inc. - Technology
Redmond, WA
Mouse and Men- IT Consulting
New York, NY
NETtech- IT Repair and Sales
New York, NY
POINT- IT Consulting
New York, NY
Ramp Up Technology- IT Consulting
New York, NY
Salesforce Inc.- CRM Cloud Computing
San Francisco, CA
Sinu- IT Consulting
New York, NY
Starlight Media- IT Consulting
New York, NY
Sprint PCS- Telecommunications
Overland Park, KS
Square- Technology
San Francisco, CA
Twitter Inc.- Technology
San Francisco, CA
Uhaul Inc.-Trucking
New York, NY
Valiant Technology- IT Consulting, Application Development
New York, NY
Vertical Response- Software
San Francisco, CA
WeRecycle! - E-Steward Electronic Recyclers
Mount Vernon, NY 

I fully support the legislation.  It’s a great start and has done a tremendous amount to raise awareness of the issues central to e-waste.  But the issues I’m going to bring up refer specifically to NYC, how we’re impacted and how certain things can be misleading.  For a good, quick summary/opinion of the legislation, check out Kate Sinding’s (of NRDC) blog post on the topic.  We’re an NYC company.  We live, work and operate in NYC.  As a result, we’re finely tuned to NYC’s specific needs.

So how are you being misled?

To begin with, the legislation started on April 1, 2010 and the only requirements are that electronics manufacturers (Apple, Sony, Dell, etc) are required to cover some costs for collecting and recycling e-waste in the state.  They do this through traditional e-waste collection methods – various drop-offs points and collection events.  No mention of a solution to the transportation and convenience issues NYC’ers face.

The next milestone was January 1, 2012 when the first part of the disposal ban kicked in.  This is what everyone is now referring to.  But the problem is that it only applies to businesses in NYC – individuals and households are not part of this (that happens on Jan 1, 2015).  So why is pushing this message misleading the consumer?  Because most Manhattan-based businesses aren’t impacted by this.  They don’t handle their own trash.  It’s handled by building management – who are affected by the law.  And they have their own relationships – more often than not with trucking/hauling, scrap or waste  management companies.  Definitely not with companies who understand the specific issues and needs of e-waste.

The legislation does not mention any standards of recycling other than saying that  items can’t end up in a solid waste or hazardous waste facility.  Great!  No landfill or incineration!  But feel free to arbitrarily throw the items (with the lead, copper, mercury, cadmium, etc) in a shredder to get to those precious raw materials.  It also doesn’t put any restrictions on exporting items so go ahead and sell to third world countries. Make your money on the export and let the company overseas do what they want with the items – standards need not apply.

In using our competitors, you may be compliant with the law but are you certain they’re handling your items in the way you want?  The flashy website, the words “recycling” on the truck and the personal guarantees are all nice but it may be smoke and mirrors.  What you need to know is who runs the company, where the items go after collection, how and where they’re processed and who their partners are.  Does the company or their partners have any kind of certification to support the standards they claim? Most of this information can be found on the company’s website and won’t take you more than a few minutes to figure out.

Do you want to follow the letter of the law or do you want to do the right thing?

-md

Did you know that every year tons of electronics are decommissioned by businesses? Your company may not know they have e-waste recycling and disposal options. Help us lower NYC’s e-waste footprint. Speak up and Take The 4th Bin to work!

You and the requester are eligible to receive a $15.00 Starbucks gift card for any pickup of $100 or more!

Forward this offer to your Green Committee, IT Director, CTO, Office Manager and have them enter your name in the “How did you hear about us?” field, and #binning in the “Promo Code” to receive 15% off a door-to-door pickup.

Note: Gift cards are delivered upon successful pickup and payment. Only offers of $100 or more (discounted price) are eligible. Requester needs to specify someones name in order for the referral to receive the gift card. Offer expires February 18th, 2012.

Besides the potential for a great cup of Joe, why 4th Bin?
* As of January 1, 2012, it is now the law to recycle your company’s e-waste.
* Scheduling a pickup is fast and easy – and pickups often happen within 1 week!
* We are a local NYC based and operated company.
* Recycling takes place locally. Items are never shipped abroad.
* Electronics are recycled locally by WeRecycle! to  e-Steward Certification standards (most stringent in the nation)
* We are run by green minded techies not waste management.
* We treat your data securely. Proof of Data Destruction is available.
* Our low fees already include labor and insurance – less worry for your firm.
* Submitting your company’s inventory online is easy.
* Pass on this email to your CEO, your IT guy, Ops Director or Marketing Manager.

Thank you for your help and for Taking The 4th Bin to work!

We pride ourselves on the fact that 4th Bin are technologists and believe our use of current technology is contributing to the “cleaning up” of waste management. So we want to share a little bit about how we work – from a technology perspective.

4th Bin is made possible by companies like Google, Salesforce.com, Sprint, Apple Inc. GoDaddy and Microsoft. The combination of these technologies help us accurately track inventory from the first the initial client request, through the logistics stream, ending with our processor WeRecycle!. These technologies are also instrumental in giving us the ability to comply with state laws as they relate to e-waste collection.

We use a wide variety of Google Apps in support of our business.  Google Docs allows us to provide real time intake reports which can be shared with clients for their internal and external purposes. The Android platform, along with Google maps, are the preferred tools by the rescue teams for everything from GPS mapping capabilities to gathering information on specific buildings. Google Voice provides our office numbers and voicemail.  Analytics and Google Ads help drive marketing and sales.

Salesforce.com is our Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform.  It is an invaluable tool that allows us to gather our client’s information and keep track of milestones as they happen through the process (conversation with clients, scheduling, pickup confirmation, inventory, weights collected).  It also integrates a variety of other technologies that make the entire pickup process much more efficient.

Sprint is the data network we prefer – period. It has a robust and affordable voice and data plan which allows to always be connected.  This lets us track all of the pickup and trucking logistics in real time. Through the Sprint network, real data of what was picked up, and how much, can be tracked with complete accuracy.

Last but not least – Microsoft.  Microsoft is often bashed for its all too public struggles but is still very much a key player in software development. Its Sharepoint product is a great tool for organizing data into one centralized location for internal collaboration purposes.  And it’s mail platform, Exchange, is the corporate gold standard in email.  Both platforms are outsourced and hosted on GoDaddy’s network.

A number of other companies provide much needed services.  Idrive provides data backups.  M5 provides our phone lines.  In addition to Sharepoint and Exchange, GoDaddy hosts our website.  Vertical Response provides our email marketing services.  Fax.com provides our fax capabilities.

So why did I tell you all of this?  And how does it contribute to “cleaning up”.  With the exception of our laptops, mobile devices and a couple of printers, we own no other equipment.  No servers, no routers, no firewalls, no backup devices, no fax machines.  All of our back-end services are cloud based.  We are proud to say that we are minimal e-waste generators (even our laptops are “refurbished” for reuse).   We compare it to taking mass transit instead of driving in to the office.  We truly stand behind our words when we say that we’re the most ethical solution for e-waste.

~John Kirsch

#5: Politics
Does Universal Health Care hurt or help the economy? Do individuals and/or small businesses (like 4th Bin) benefit or suffer? Why do politicians with skeletons think they can run and hold office in today’s environment and not expect those skeletons to surface (hello Mr. Cain). Can the GOP string any type of consistency or excitement into their candidates to pose a real threat against President Obama?

ok…it’s a little bit of a heavy topic. But what else can we talk about for 8 hours a day in a truck?

#4: Business
As much as we’d like to just focus on driving and discussing silly topics, we still have business to conduct. Some of our most creative marketing ideas have been born on the truck. Some business deals have come together in between stops.  If you’ve requested a quote from us, you may have gotten a reply from someone who was actually in the middle of a pickup.

#3: Sports
Always a fun topic. Especially when fantasy football is involved. You will constantly hear about how I can be dominating one league while be in the basement of a second one. Fortunately, the one I really want to win is the one I’m dominating.

So here’s our current take.
Michael:
- Tottenham Hotspur – I’m a football (soccer) fan. EPL and Spurs are my choices. Happy we’re sitting in third right now but really annoyed that the refs cost us the game this week.
- Mets – I have faith. I have faith that Sandy Alderson knows what he’s doing. I have faith that rebooting the team and growing the farm system is a great way to rebuild. Lets just hope we have the tools to make the comeback sometime within the next few years.
- Dolphins – yes…I’m a fins fan in NYC. Better yet, John is a Jets fan. Fortunately, he’s not fanatical enough to cause fistfights on the truck. Then again, the fins aren’t really a threat to anyone this season. Unless, of course, they can knock the Jets out of playoff contention with the last game of the season.
- Knicks – I’m excited about basketball for the first time in a decade. They have a chance to compete. But I still long for the Knicks of old. The Knicks that knew how to play defense in a league that allowed players to defend. Too bad many sports leagues are moving to an offense only format.

John:
- Penguins – Religion to a certain “Binner”.  If you’re a fan of the Pens, or hockey in general, visit thepensblog.com – without a doubt the best sports blog period!
- Jets – Too painful to type…
- Nets – We have Binned so many times around their new digs!  And…Mikhail Prokhorov, the billionaire owner of the New Jersey Nets, said he is running for president of Russia against Vladimir Putin.  We don’t know if this is good or not.
-Yankees – We hope they get Yu Darvish!

#2: Inappropriate conversation topic
Hey….it’s a truck and we’re cooped up together for 8 hours a day.  What did you thinK? That it would be all business and wholesome fun?

#1: Where are eating lunch today?
We’re NYers. Food is a major topic of conversation, we’re all over the city and boroughs and and we have a lot of options. Some of our favorites:
- Aprovecho – 1st Ave between 66th & 67th
- The Path Cafe – Christopher between Hudson and Greenwich
- The Grey Dog – We’ve only been to the one on Carmine which, unfortunately, is now closed due to a dispute with the landlord. But they have other locations which we hope to check out soon.
- Hill Country – West 26th between 6th and Broadway
- Hollywood Diner – 16th and 6th Ave.
- Blue Hill Cafe – ok…this one’s not close.  It’s in Pocantico Hills, New York
- Front Street Pizza- DUMBO – Front St between Adams and Washington
- Pacifico – Brooklyn – Pacific and Smith Sts

The Economics…

I’m a person who actively collects and recycles techno junk from New York City businesses and residents.  As a result of working in this field, I’m incredibly knowledgeable about the industry, processes and players.  I can honestly say that the single biggest barrier to ethical recycling is the unscrupulous individuals and companies who take e-waste for free.

We frequently speak to clients who are offered “free” pickup and recycling service.  In some cases, they are actually offered money for their trash.   Free is good, right?  Getting money for your stuff is even better, right?  Sounds like I’m ranting just because people are undercutting my business.  Well, yes.  That’s part of it.  But the bigger part is that they’re undercutting my business through unscrupulous business practices.  While we’re doing everything we can to build a business based on ethics and doing things the right way, they’re simply looking at the bottom line and will do whatever they can to increase their profits – at any cost.

So how do they do it?

Techno junk is trash, right?  It has no real value.  Ok…I’ll admit that there is some value in refurbishing and selling the used equipment.  From experience, I can tell you that the vast majority of e-waste is trash.  The costs to properly sort, evaluate and prepare a machine for reuse can be quite high.  The evaluation and prep process also needs to be done by technically qualified individuals.  Can you tell me that the scrap and metal companies, the trucking and hauling companies and the “recycling” companies all have technicians on staff to rebuild machine?

If you take a close look at most e-waste “recyclers” and “collectors”, you’ll discover they’re really fronts for scrap companies, trucking/hauling companies or metal management companies.  These companies pay nothing to their workers and have no interest in your data’s security, let alone environmental standards.  Regardless, there are still costs associated with sending labor and a truck to your home or business to have the items removed.  There are costs for storage, processing and additional transportation.  It would seem that these companies defy all economic principals in taking possession of the equipment for free.

These “green” companies are able to provide this service for free by doing several things.  For a lot of the items, they practice the art of stripping out precious metals.  Once stripped, many of the components with little domestic value are exported oversees.  This includes items that don’t contain enough precious metals to be stripped.  For all items with no value, they’re shredded or dumped.  There is no reuse, no proper processing/recycling of the items.  The metals and export value are the only source of revenue that can be derived from this practice.  The export issue is too long of a topic to be discussed here.  But trust me, it’s not good.  For more info, go here.

Individuals or “collectors” who offer free pickups to the client are not legitimate, period.  Does McDonald’s pay the customer to eat its meals, no.  Ethical collection of waste, be it electronics or paper, need a legitimate marketplace – especially when it comes to waste management.  We, as an organization, recognize the fact that electronics contain hazardous materials and need to responsibly handled from first touch (the pickup) to the actual processing/recycling of the materials.  We tout our ethics and our process.  And we’re proud to say that we’ll never be able to compete with “free”.

-John Kirsch

At some point in your IT career, or even at home, you will be faced with “ how should I throw this away”?   Now that we live in the disposable world of technology, the repair man has gone the way of the Dodo bird. So when that monitor goes dead or the computer fails, a proper sendoff is now necessary- most importantly in an ethical and legal way. 2012 will usher in a new age of disposal for the cell phone in your pocket and the wide screen on your wall.  If not done properly, the possibility of a fine could come your way.  Because of the uniqueness of the circuit boards and plastics being fused together, a proper disposal is needed for these items.  Currently, there are very few companies that handle this practice and even fewer that are actually credible.

I have been in IT for close to 20 years.  From the Marines and SEAL’s to consulting for non- profits.  Every 4 years brings a cycle of disposal that needed to be dealt with due to a refresh of technology.  As the machines get stacked in the server room, I have always been concerned about the correct way of recycling them – or simply finding a company that specializes in this practice.

4^TH Bin in New York City will take the guess work out of any issue you have.  Their team came in and not only took 6 years of systems but also explained the full process.  I got full details on how the machines will be broken down and where they will be going.  I also took some time to pole different companies that offered this service and none could tell me any details on the disposal

In my long career I’ve given 2 written endorsements -  4^th Bin is one of the two.

Don’t pass up the 4^th Bin!

Those familiar with 4th Bin know that our mission is to provide a solution to NYC’s specific issues with regards to e-waste.  The biggest issue facing New Yorkers is transportation.   How do you get that big, heavy TV out of your apt, down the stairs and over to that highly publicized collection event?  As a local NYer (born and raised here), I’m very familiar with the issues.  We created 4th Bin to solve these issues by coming to your home and taking all of the work and stress off your shoulders.

We realize that many people have small items that don’t require our manpower.  Some people want to do the right thing but simply don’t have the money to pay for our services.  We want to make sure that everyone has an option.  So, we decided to set up ERPs.

Unlike many of our competitors, we’re not looking to work with the large retail chains.  As a local company, we want to best serve our community by partnering with small to mid-size, independently owned local businesses.  Over time, this will allow us to blanket the city with ERPs while also showcasing local entrepreneurs and their commitment to our community.  Staples and Best Buy don’t need your patronage as much as the little IT shop in your neighborhood.  Nor do they truly have the commitment to the environment that the IT shop owner has.

Please understand that ERPs are only for residents.  Unfortunately, we cannot accept commercial e-waste as part of the program.  The ERPs are not set up to handle large volume and are really designed for individuals who want to do the right thing but don’t have the funds or need for a 4th Bin pickup.

So please feel free to bring your e-waste to our new ERP:

Nettech PC Solutions

235 East 25th St (between 2nd & 3rd Ave)

212 725-6633

4th Bin and Nettech PC Solutions have launched 4th Bin’s first store-front E-Waste Rescue Point (ERP). The ERP system provides NYC residents with free, local drop-off locations for their e-waste.

This initial ERP site is part of the 4th Bin’s growing, comprehensive system which provides an ethical and convenient disposal solution for NYC residential e-waste. Over the next 12 months, 4th Bin will be rolling out additional ERP’s in selected NYC neighborhoods throughout the 5 boroughs.

Click here for more information regarding the ERP program.